 We'll say insha'Allah a few implications in English as well for those Who don't know the Arabic insha'Allah because we are as strong as our weakest link my dear beloved brothers and sisters and This is something that we must understand as a community insha'Allah And if we are able to strengthen our weakest link, we will be unstoppable together insha'Allah So before we get into some of the Reasons of why do we play pray salat al khusuf? Again, we have a new comer here with us insha'Allah. We'll be taking her shahada and We always want to make the best of impressions on our dear brothers and sisters who come into the fold of Islam And coming into a masjid or a musallah for the first time we want to make it the best time for them insha'Allah God willing We don't want to stir any confusion or cause any malice within the community. Nothing but love insha'Allah So We'll say some of the invocations again in English just to show How we supplicate ourselves to Allah as our job, and then insha'Allah we'll have our talk So we recite surat al ikhlaos We say in the name of God the most compassionate the ever merciful Allah commands us God commands us to say he is God the one God the eternally besought he begot no one nor was he begotten and no one is comparable unto him Allah also tells us he says in the name of God the most compassionate the ever merciful say I Seek refuge with the Lord of the people the king of the people the God of the people against the harm of this slinking Whisperer who whispers into the hearts of people whether they be gin or people meaning mankind Forgive me. I'll say let's give slaughter something for now in the name of God The most compassionate ever merciful say I take refuge with the Lord of daybreak against the harm and what he has created The harm in the night when the darkness Gathers the harm and witches when they blow on knots in the harm of the envier when he envies Oh, Allah we take refuge and you from the dotings of the Satan's and we seek refuge with you Oh Lord so that they may not come near us Allah tells us in his glorious Quran without the Arabic right now he says Did you think we had created you in vain human being And that you would not be brought back to us Exalted be God the true king. There is no God but him the Lord of the glorious throne Whoever prays to another God alongside him. He has no proof of this His face He will face his reckoning with his Lord on Yomo Kiyama the day of standing when we return back to Allah So those who reject the truth they will not prosper Say Lord forgive and have mercy. You are the most merciful of those who show mercy So today their brothers and sisters we read Surat al-Nabab which is the Surah Allah Azza wa Jalla has revealed to us in Juz Amma And then within the within Juz Amma the specific part of the Quran Allah gives us the account of things that will happen on Yomo Kiyama Yomo Kiyama meaning the day of standing And this is a it is a ni'ma a blessing from Allah Azza wa Jalla for you and I to be able to witness such a Spectacle of what is going on right now and to be able to stand before Allah Azza wa Jalla as a community Marshall as a community as we get to reflect and we should be able to stand as if we are standing on that very day We are in the blessed month of Ramadan as well and look at these signs that Allah Azza wa Jalla has shown you and I It is said that the end Was there once the birth of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam was initiated Allahumma salli wa sallim ala Sayyidina Muhammad So if we take a moment to ponder and to reflect on what is time actually As Allah swears by time What is time in reality when the angel is Rafiq his lips just as my lips are close to this microphone His lips are puckered Cheeks full of air and he's getting ready to blow the horn and this horn will be One of the most egregious sounds that humankind will will ever hear and so reflecting on these verses of Allah Azza wa Jalla before we get into Surat An-Nabba the news The news is concerning the day of judgment Allah has placed you and I here On this earth solely to worship him and to worship him in every single act it is that we can possibly do Whether it be raising our children Whether it be going to work It can even be so much so as playing basketball as long as you say Bismillah before you start that thing And surely within the remembrance of Allah and anything that you do you will obtain Which is consciousness of Allah Azza wa Jalla and Allah Gives us an opportunity with having life life in order to obtain this taqwa this taqwa meaning God Consciousness reverence of him and so all of the tests and trials that we face in our lives Always points us to have remembrance of Allah So that we stand firm so when the day of judgment comes Regarding our responsibilities We'll be able to pay forth a proper response What is it to be responsible? Think of that. It means that you have to be able to provide a sufficient response dear believers the time that we have With the eclipse going on There were times in jahaliya during the times of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam our messenger has told us that When the moon eclipses the Sun These are signs of Allah as Allah has created the Sun and the moon to give you and us signs There are signs of Allah to show us so that we can calculate time And so that we can fare and use our time to our advantage in this life before we return to him and In his in his ayats inside of his glorious Quran Allah mentions these things specifically by name a Shams will come when we ponder on the reflect on the creation of Allah and Also, we ponder on Allah signs inside of his glorious Quran We come to know and understand what is our purpose here as human beings and how can we prepare ourselves for Yom Kiyamah that's Standing that we must be able to provide a proper response to our Lord as a word out as Allah knows every single thing it is that you and I do as he's closer to us than our jugular vein the day of standing We're absolutely there will be no power awarded to anyone except that which Allah's will that which Allah wills The way that I'm able to speak right now to you and to articulate myself I will absolutely not have this control nor will you on Yom Kiyamah The way that I'm able to move my hands control my breath my thoughts This will not be our states on Yom Kiyamah If we don't look at these signs that Allah is Allah has given us and correct ourselves in this time that we have here on this earth if we also reflect upon We're inside of this blessed month of Ramadan and this eclipse has happened These signs are extremely close if we think about the birth of the Prophet Muhammad over more than 1,000 or 400 years ago the angels lips are puckered and more close To blowing on the horn than my lips are to this microphone right now. So what have you and I prepared? Regarding our response to Allah is that what gel on Yom Kiyamah May Allah accept our time during this Ramadan that we be forgiven of our sins and our wrongdoings We are near the end of Ramadan of this very blessed month, and we must warn ourselves Through reflecting on these warnings that Allah sends to us. And so why do we pray pray Salatum Khusub? It is said that When the moon eclipsed the Sun the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam came out of his house Extremely nervous and he's carried to the message And he gathered the people and they saw how nervous he was sallallahu alaihi wa sallam This is the messenger of Allah the one who we follow the most beloved of God and look at his state He was extremely concerned He revealed to his companions That during this time when the Sun when the moon eclipses the Sun It is a huge sign from Allah Azza wa Jalla that potentially Fitna can befall upon a community So he gathered the community and he said for us to do the things that most pleases Allah During this moment so a calamity does not fall upon us He also said to give much in charity after doing Ibadah meaning standing and worship worshipping Allah To give in charity to seek forgiveness of Allah during this time To be kind to those who are around you If this was the state of our beloved messenger Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam Who was the most pristine human being to ever touch this earth? What about you and I? Who was the most prepared to stand before Allah? Who is the most prepared to stand before Allah on Yomu Qiyami if he had this much worry inside of his heart How should you and I be when we see the signs of Allah Azza wa Jalla as we read in our second book up? Yes, I do not care on his side to a Yanem or Sahab Allah has revealed inside of his glorious Quran. They asked you oh Muhammad. They asked you about the last hour Let us think about that. We were discussing last night What if it is that we have our book and we knew when our last hour was on this earth? What would our states be? How will we use our time if we knew our full schedule the day that we will go and return back to Allah Azza wa Jalla? They asked you oh Muhammad about the last and final hour See ma anta min dhikraha This is the blessed prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam and Allah tells him oh Muhammad you are not in position to know that information No one knows the hour Except Allah and Allah has given us signs in order to know when that hour is coming and approaching and when that hour is near I la rabbika min tahaha until your Lord is a lofty return in a lofty station to return Inna ma anta min dhikru ma yakhshaha Oh Muhammad you are solely the ambassador or the leader of Those who want to take heed of your message meaning this glorious Quran that Allah is has given us to recite That is you and I who are here right now Trying to follow the Sunnah of the prophet Muhammad peace be upon him meaning his lifestyle and trying to implement the words of Allah Azza wa Jalla Ka anna hum yawma yarounaha lam yalbathu illa ashiyatan awduhaaha Allah tells us many times inside of his glorious Quran that this world is nothing but mere play And we will come to realize that For those who are unfortunate will come to realize that On the day of Yomul piyami on the day of standing before Allah They will say it's only as if we were in it for a day and a night So what is time in this true essence? And how do we actually use our time for our benefit to make sure that we provide a proper response? When we stand before our Lord Azza wa Jalla, Allah also tells us about the horrors on Yomul piyama Nes al-Allah salaman wa a'afiyah We ask Allah for his protection That we do not have to stand before him and take any reckoning And have to be accountable For that which we have accounted in our lives So let us take advantage and be grateful about this time that we have together right now in this month that we're in because We are in pristine condition to be fully forgiven for what it is that we have committed And the actions that we take now Will provide the best of responses for us on Yomul piyama And why is that? The day where you and I will not be able to even control our own breaths know our hands Any of our limbs In fact, Allah tells us inside of his glorious Quran that he will make our limbs A test for us Yet during these months like Ramadan If we habituate ourselves to good actions We will naturally respond with good And this is one of the reasons On Yomul piyama, we won't have any control over ourselves because the limbs who are our witness to every single thing that it is that we do Let alone the angels let alone our lord above Knows every single thing it is that you and I Have done will do and what it is that we think Having these signs of Allah is nothing more than a miracle dear believers And it is time for you and I to do our utmost best to connect with this glorious Quran And to not waste away our time We must be good to one another We must be able to reflect with one another We must be able to be Guided by one another We see the current state of our ummah And what certain agenda of people around the world are doing right now At times it seems like the oppressors are winning in some sort But this is all by the decree of Allah az-zawajal for they surely are signs just as well Just as Firaoum Was a sign to the nation of bano israe When we take this glorious Quran Allah gives us these characters for a reason even though when we say characters these were true people real people But it is for us to take all of these analogies and to apply them directly to what is going on inside of our times as well Any oppressor in any shape or form is Firaoum And truly Allah one of the most attested acts to Allah az-zawajal is to oppress Even if it be one's own self So when you and I commit wrong and when we start off with ourselves first and not look at others Reflect about how is it that we oppress our own selves? Think about it The victim can always tell you what the oppressor has done To them correct as we see what is going on inside of Philistine and the West Bank in the Fadzah In the Horn of Africa and Somalia people being starved The victim can always tell the oppressor What they have oppressed upon them. I want you to really reflect about this regarding ourselves And if we can collectively see within our own selves What about the victim of our limbs? Allah az-zawajal tells us Will be the victims who will speak against us Our feet will be the victims who speak against us Our eyes will be the victims who speak against us Because they wouldn't want to be punished Right as we say When we look at anyone inside of this life who's being oppressed we say that is unfair. That's not right And that's the same exact way that our body will want to respond Against this soul Who actually controls it Our hands will say oh Allah I don't want to be burned Remove me from this soul and put that soul inside of the fire because it wasn't me who wanted to do it I'm the victim The feet will say oh Allah I did not walk there. This soul made me do it. Do not put me inside of your fire Eyes will say oh Allah I did not intend to watch that. I was the victim I was forced to do this We must take ourselves to account Before we are taken to account And this is the way that we should try and live every single day of our lives And we don't want to have a seldom moment in the sense that Allah is not forgiving. Allah is the most forgiving the most merciful But we also don't want to take for granted The mercy of Allah By being disobedient purposefully By knowing that alhamdulillah this month on Ramadan. I stayed away from this. I stayed away from that I didn't commit this sin. I didn't watch that Allah is so showing us his signs There's a day that is approaching Whether we live that day in reality But the day that's most that that is definitely approaching is the day of our return to Allah azzawajal That's a guarantee That is something we will literally taste as Allah describes in his glorious quran Let us not take the mercy of Allah for granted Although Allah is the most gracious the most merciful and he forgives every single sin as we are told and taught to say inside of this glorious month Allahumma innaka aafoon tuhipu al-afwa fa'afu annah Allahumma innaka aafoon tuhipu al-afwa fa'afu annah Ya Kareem And it is accepting But we urge ourselves with this message that we've been able to sit with one another today Know that your Lord is the most gracious the most merciful Don't go back after this glorious month may Allah accept Do not go back to being the same person that you were May Allah bless us with many more ramadan's that we are able to inculcate Love of his messenger Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and messenger of his And love and inculcate love of his glorious quran And these should be steps That we take Going up and raising in our ranks and in our iman and in our character After Ramadan, we should not start declining and going back down our steps If you are able to behave and perform the way that you have been during this month What do you think it is that you can't do it afterwards? We've been able to learn about who it is that we are because we know that the sheykh al-thin are walked away So you and I have had at least nearly 30 days to find out who it is that we truly are We can't use the sheytan as an excuse As on the day of judgment before he is descended into the worst of places may Allah protect us from Say I mean He will say I only called you to it I only whispered to you You're the one Who did the action We must use this time to fortify ourselves And every time we strengthen our shield with la ilaha illallah Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam We never allow our shield to be penetrated or broken by going back to the same activities that we used to take part in The prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam says The prophet Muhammad peace be upon him and we really wanted to stick to the most beginning parts of this Hadith which will end with inshallah Allah tells you and I that truly all actions have intentions in every single action of a believer If it is for the sake of Allah and his messenger They will be rewarded as such Whatever it is that you strive for in life Whether it is providing for your family Whether it is trying to read read some disease of the heart Whether it is to stop habituating a bad act When you remember your cause and why it is that you and I are here and it is for the sake of Allah No matter how much we fail or we strive in achieving that thing Allah will reward us And the prophet Muhammad peace be upon him also tells us within this hadith But if you go after anything inside of this life solely for that thing Without the remembrance of Allah without intending to do that thing for Allah Well, you will solely get that thing So what this hadith emphasizes you and I to do is that everything that we do we intend to do it To come nearer to Allah and to his messenger Azawajal And insha Allah these are a few ways that we will be able to obtain Taqwa of Allah And we read in salafa khidbah every Friday every single time in our reminder Allah tells us Oh you who believe Oh you who claim to Live your life and submit yourself to Allah Do not die Except for in that state Do not die except for Striving and trying to come to Allah and trying to remember him Azawajal This has been our talk and our conclusion of it Forgive me if I have offended anyone or I have said anything wrong Dear brothers and sisters, we just want to make sure that we Are reminded Allah is the most gracious the most merciful and he does forgive But just the way that we are with our kids or anyone that we have a relationship with Do not abuse the kindness Of your companion Meaning your lord Don't think that Alhamdulillah Ramadan may be over in three days. I can't wait to get back to We have warnings inside of this glorious Quran We might not have a next breath or our next day so if we Can take one message from this entire talk That is to try and live Every single day every single moment As if we are about to be taken to account before Allah Azawajal And we will fare much more better inside of this world If we can take that and that is talk about Alhamdulillah rabbil alameen But we intend to also do a shahada inshallah uh, and so before Uh, we do that with our dear brother Jared, can you come up here please? Can you come and take a seat with us? So Alhamdulillah Jared he's come um He caught me extremely excited Jared he's come um He caught me extremely excited so um Our dear brother Jared, so um Firstly we go back to high school. Alhamdulillah. We went to James Logan high school in new york city Um, I was class of 2011 so now i'm dating myself and you are class of 2012, right? Masha'Allah and Alhamdulillah. This is such a special occasion This is a very strong young man and as you can see even the way that he's built Masha'Allah So we used to play on the football team together as well. We play uh varsity football together I play wide receiver and he played cornerback and for those who don't know about football The wide receiver and the cornerback they oppose each other They go against each other. I'm on the offensive side of the ball and he's on the defensive side of the ball and so Even in high school. We've been sharpening one another Through all of our practices through all of our grinds lifting together Masha'Allah He called me and he told me he said you know what? Quran you know um you and your father have always inspired me since high school Again i'm nobody But again, we're just brothers and i'm just sharing a moment with you guys In high school. Alhamdulillah is when i started to like uh, you know, there's so many religions There's so many people why is it Islam true? I started to really seek for my own self I knew I was Muslim, but I didn't know why I was Muslim I knew I was Muslim, but I didn't know why I was Muslim So in high school this senior year actually what he's talking about is when uh, he said you and your father really inspired me And jared at the time he was much more smaller than what he is But he did everything that he could do to strive and that shows Muja had to To strive and to struggle in the way of Allah through anything it is that we do just things even like football Right anything you can take anything any art in the world and if you do it for the sake of god There are all these microcosms that are in the same thing you have to strive and struggle anything it is that you do This is the only way that how you get to Allah And so he called me he said Hey, man, I've been uh fasting. I said Why you been fasting? He said yeah And I've been praying I said what I said, uh, did somebody show you like did you go? To any mosque or anything he said nah, man. I didn't do none of that. I just Like I just know that to be the truth So I don't know who it is that he's seen actually in his life It's it's Allah is the one who guides hearts And alhamdulillah inshallah we'll be inviting our brother into the fold of Islam and derriwis want you to know some things before Taking what is called to shahada as you've already been practicing as a Muslim and what we spoke to you about but now We say the shahada in front of the community. So we recognize one another And then you know that you are in the brotherhood Of eternity this this life is only temporal And we will be with the with one another in the afterlife god willing inside of the inside of paradise inside The highest levels of paradise with our glorious messenger Muhammad peace be upon him Well, we don't ever have to worry about sickness We don't ever have to worry about work Well, we don't ever have to worry about overcoming anything. There will be nothing but pure bliss But in this world we work with one another In order to get to this hardship Is there anything that you would just like to share about yourself and how you You know, what was it that is there anything that you would just like to share in general before we tell you What the shahada is we'll say it in Arabic and then we'll say it in English afterwards How's it going? Jared Mendoza I am a deputy sheriff for alamity county Thank you for having me here Ready to learn to be a part of this community. That's what I'm looking for Link versus peace as well Can you tell us a little bit how did you come to like how'd you come to know that Islam? It kind of found me I was looking for some some guidance um I come from a uh, a father who teaches a Muslim or a Filipino martial arts that is called kali That is taught by the Muslims and the Philippines. So I grew up training in that martial arts So I've always had a natural affinity towards Islam So this so to speak Also, uh, when I was looking for some guidance, I was never a social media person and I hopped on social media for other purposes and Quran popped up as people you may know out of nowhere and uh Yeah, I just thought it was uh, it was a sign Okay, so we'll say what the shahada is so we'll say the Arabic first Which is always best to do and then we'll explain it in English say Let's hold up our right finger our right index finger say ash hadu And we all should reaffirm our faith right now just as well together. What's our brother as well say ash hadu Allah Inla Allah What ash hadu Anna Muhammad Rasulullah Marhaban, alhamdulillah. Rabin alameen. So we we just said I bear witness say this in English. I bear witness That there is no god But god And I bear witness That the prophet Muhammad Peace be upon him. It's his messenger. It's his messenger and servant tech beer Tech beer Tech beer And saying tech beer means tell the crowd to say Allah And so Allah means God is the greatest Which Allah is the greatest. Alhamdulillah. Welcome to the full marhaban everybody. Let's introduce ourselves to our brother Jared